Tony from Survivor: Game Changers responds to Sandra taunting

Tony Vlachos came into Survivor: Game Changers at 100 miles per hour…almost literally. The first thing he did upon hitting the beach was sprint away from everyone and announce he was looking for the idols. Unfortunately, his run on Survivor this time did not last so long. The Cagayan champ never got a chance to finish his underground spy bunker, nor did he get to unleash his “clones” or plant an idol on someone else to get them voted out, but he still made his mark in his short time on the show.

But the former winner went up against two-time former winner Sandra, and paid the price, getting voted out of the game second. Tony called into EW Morning Live (Entertainment Weekly Radio, SiriusXM, channel 105) this morning — at least we think he did. “You’re talking to Tony’s clone,” said the voice on the other line. “Tony is still out on the island playing so I’ll do my best to try and talk to you as if I’m the real Tony.” We asked Tony’s clone all about it all went wrong, and you can now hear the entire thing on the

We asked Tony’s clone all about how it all went wrong, and you can now hear the entire thing on the EW Morning Live podcast below or on iTunes. Here are a few highlights of our chat, including his response to Sandra’s Tribal Council taunting and a somewhat shocking pick for whom he was rooting for after getting voted out.

On why his all-threat alliance blew up:“Everything was going well until the tribe decided they wanted to put the whole camp closer to the water well because they had a better view of the ocean, which messed me up because that’s where I had the construction site for my spy shack, by the well. Because our camp was so close to the water well, everyone could just peek over and see everything.

“So I was beating the clock trying to get that built. So what happened is I said, ‘Let me take advantage of the nighttime.’ I made sure everyone was sleeping. I watched them and made sure their eyes were closed for at least an hour before I made my move. So as I was building my spy bunker, I see Troyzan and Sandra walking towards it…

“I heard my name and that’s not good. You’re not going to hear your name at 3 or 4 in the morning and talk about somebody unless it’s bad. It’s not going to be like, ‘Oh, Tony’s great, I want to work with him. You’re not going to do it.’ Everyone says it was paranoia. It wasn’t paranoia — I heard my name and I had to act on it. At that point I figured, let me bum rush them real quick and catch them off-guard and see what they’re going to tell me. Because if they weren’t talking bad about me, they would just tell me the truth. One tells me they’re looking at the tide, the other, she’s talking about the crate being too close to the fire. I’m like, ‘Aw, this is baloney,’ so at this point I’m like, ‘Okay, Sandra’s turned on me,’ and that was it. That alliance went bye-bye at that very second.”

On Sandra taunting him as he got your torch snuffed:“It’s at the heat of the moment. I didn’t take it personal. I was just upset that the guys like Caleb, Malcolm, Aubry didn’t show. I told then we had to turn on Sandra. I pitched it to all of them. Aubry’s telling me, ‘Tony, I’m just going to let fate take its course.’ I went to Troyzan and he was telling me, ‘Tony, I’m having a bad moment on the beach here, I don’t want to talk.’ Caleb said, ‘I’m sorry, Tony, let’s just stick with the vote.’ I kept saying, ‘C’mon, Caleb. Let’s play. Let’s play.’ Same thing with Malcolm.

“So when Sandra got the best of me and she ran her mouth a little bit, it’s nothing personal. It’s the heat of the moment, she said what she had to say. I probably would have done the same thing if I would have won and if she had walked out. I probably would have said something snarky. There’s never bad blood. It’s a game. We’re all there to beat one another. There’s only one winner at the end. There’s never bad blood — at least from my perspective there’s not.”

On if he will play Survivor again:“When I got voted off I said, ‘That’s it. I’m done. I will never play this game again.’ Two months later, three months later I was like, ‘You know what? I would love to go back again.’ And now after watching it last night, I’m like, ‘I’m done. I’ll never do it again.’ At this point, I’ll never do it again.

On if he would come back for an all-winners edition:“I don’t think it has anything to do with winners or non-winners. It just has to do with gameplay, and again, I went into the game and people know I’m sneaky. They don’t want to sleep at night, they were all following me, they were all looking — every time I went to the bathroom they were looking at me. So it’s like I couldn’t move. I had no breathing room at all. It’s tough when you can’t make a move without anybody following you and watching you.”

On if he was able to relax at Ponderosa after being voted off:“I was worse at Ponderosa than I was in the game! I was like the night patrol at the Ponderosa. I would do circles and walk around Ponderosa numerous times with the stray dogs. I would follow them, they would follow me, It was nuts.”

On whom he was rooting for after getting voted out:“I did give Sandra her props, so I was rooting for Sandra. When she got me, I was like, ‘You know what? You got me. That’s a good job, Sandra.’ So I was rooting for Sandra. I was like, ‘Damn, man, she’s good.’ The girl is good. You could win one time like I did, it could be a fluke. You can be a one hit wonder. But to win that game twice, that’s just unheard of. Good for her.

You can hear the entire interview — along with our chats with Ciera and host Jeff Probst — above. Or take it on the go by subscribing to the EW Morning Live podcast. And for more EW Morning Live podcast updates, follow @EWMLPodcast.